1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a shell structure for luggage and the like and, in particular, to an improved transparent shell structure.
2. Related Art
As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the conventional luggage shell structure has an inner shell 91 inside a transparent outer shell 90, including one lining 92 inside the inner shell 91. The inner shell 91 is cured and molded through thermoplastic process and vacuum suction. The inner shell 91 has a three-dimensional profile and includes a flat decorative surface 910. During the thermoplastic process, the side surface of the inner shell is formed with a curved surface 911. The decorative surface 910 is printed with a pattern 912. When the inner shell 91 is disposed inside the outer shell 90, the outer shell 90 has a sparkling visual effect because of the transparency thereof. The outer shell 90 may be seen through. Therefore, when one watches the pattern 912 printed on the decorative surface 910, it produces a sense of layers to attract consumers to buy. However, this conventional luggage shell structure has the following problems.
1. Through the thermoplastic molding and vacuum suction, the inner shell 91 is cured to form the flat decorative surface 910 and curved surface 911 on the side. While the curved surface 911 is formed inside the inner shell 91, part of the curved surface 911 is extended and stretched so that the thickness reduces and the surface color becomes lighter. If the pattern 912 is printed before the curved surface 911 is formed, the pattern 912 is deformed because the thickness reduces and the surface color becomes lighter. Usually, the above-mentioned pattern 912 can only be printed on a flat decorative surface 910. The one printed on the curved surface 911 can only be a plain one. This put a restriction on the design of the pattern 912 on the inner shell 91.
2. As described above, through thermoplastic molding and vacuum suction the inner shell 91 is cured to form the flat decorative surface 910 and curved surface 911 on the side. Therefore, during the production process, there must involve a molding process, thus a certain cost. Moreover, each decorative surface 910 of the inner shell 91 can only be designed with a single pattern. To have different pattern designs, they must be formed on different inner shells 91. Therefore, in addition to the problem of limited pattern designs, assembling the inner shell 91 printed with the pattern on the decorative surface 910 to the outer shell also has the problem of high costs.
3. When assembling the inner lining 92 to in the outer shell 90, the side edge is first sewn to a glue strip 93. The glue strip 93 is then embedded in the end edge of the outer shell 90. The inner side of the glue strip 93 inside the outer shell 90 is slightly pulled out so that the inner shell 91 is wrapped around by the glue strip 93. However, the glue strip 93 is first sewn to the lining 92 and then installed to the outer shell 90. The glue strip 93 and the inner shell 91 are covered by the lining 92. To fix the inner shell 91 in the glue strip 93, one can merely pull up the glue strip 93 by touching to cover the inner shell 91. This causes problems and troubles for assembly.